IRVINE, Calif. - UC Davis faced its eighth ranked team of the year Friday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium in the first of three consecutive Big West road matches, one that did not end in the Aggies' favor as they fell 4-0 to No. 23 UC Irvine.

UC Davis will enter Saturday's match at Cal State Fullerton with a 5-8 overall and 1-1 conference record, UC irvine is now 13-3 and 4-0.

Competing and UC Davis' No. 5 singles, Ellie Edles pushed Irvine's Ali Facey to a first-set tiebreaker, one that eventually fell to Facey in a match that she captured the following set.

Megan Heneghan, her team's No. 1 singles player against the Anteaters, faced No. 101 Kristina Smith, her second ranked opponent this season. Heneghan tested Smith throughout the entire match before Smith pulled away towards the latter portions of the set to record a point for Irvine.

Heneghan's previous matchup against a top-ranked opponent took place on March 3, at San Jose State, a match that saw the Aggies down the No. 64 Spartans 4-3. Included in that day's results was a singles victory over No. 40 Klaudia Boczova; had Heneghan not earned the win, UC Davis would have been defeated by that same 4-3 score as that one match would have swung the overall result towards San Jose State's favor.

With a busy weekend schedule filled with conference matches awaiting the Aggies, competition halted once UCI earned the points needed to record an official result.

UC Davis will continue its trip through Southern California on Saturday, March 16, at Cal State Fullerton. Action from Titan Courts will start at 12 p.m.